Royalties at Lulu vs. Createspace

[advance7]

Hi,

I've been comparing royalties from differing self publishers.  For a B&W 253-page book in US Trade format on Createspace the standard royalty on a $29 book sold through Amazon is $16.82.  To achieve the same royalty through Lulu this list price would be $58.15.

Surely I'm doing something wrong in the comparison.  Can someone enlighten me?

Thanks and regards...Paul

[Ron Miller]

I wish both of these companies wouldn't call their payments "royalties". That is not what they are...especially if you are ostensibly the publisher. Publishers do not pay themselves royalties.

[norrimac]

Hi Paul,

I don't have an answer for you but I would suggest it would be more beneficial to concentrate on actually selling ANY copies of a book before worrying too much about the profits!!!

Writing's the easy part, selling is not. (In my experience, anyway!)

[Ken Anderson]

Are you comparing Apples with Pears?

[advance7]

Hi Ken,

That's my question.

Cheers...Paul

[wolfsinger]

In a way you are comparing apples and pears with the comparison being based on Amazon sales.

CreateSpace is owned by Amazon - so it is a direct sale instead of going through one of the distribution channels- as Lulu has to to get to Amazon.

Technically - CreateSpace skips the middleman (Ingram) while Lulu has to go through them.

When a book is put into distribution channels - there is a discount on the cover price given to the distributor - usually around 55% - this gives them the ability to sell the book at a discount to the retailers - usually around 40% - which allows the retailer to make money as well. Of course the printer also covers their costs in printing the book and sometimes takes an additional percentage so they make money as well.

To truly compare the discounts - you need to compare the payment you get from CreateSpace's EDCs against the payment through Lulu for books you have them dustributing.

Carol

[advance7]

Hi Norman,

I appreciate what you are saying. The situation is slightly different for me. The book is on a technical subject and I already have a bit of a demand. I'm sure I won't shift thousands but I could sell hundreds, and once I've set the things in motion I'm guessing it would be very difficult to change the distribution channel.

I'd prefer to use Lulu. I just need to understand the differences in the commercials.

Best regards...Paul

[advance7]

Thanks Carol,

I guess that's it.

Best regards...Paul

[norrimac]

We're in a similar boat, Paul. I write about marketing strategies for niche professions.

But as you're in a niche market, why use Amazon at all and have to pay the price?

Why not Direct Market to your niche? Then sell direct outta Lulu?

I'm very deeply into DM. Drop me a PM if you want to talk.